Grandma who allegedly stabbed daughter, granddaughters taken into custody early Tuesday

Tuesday

Jun 6, 2017 at 8:51 AMJun 7, 2017 at 12:40 AM

Associated Press

COLTON — A 43-year-old woman who was once found not guilty by reason of insanity to the attempted murder of her own children was arrested early Tuesday on suspicion of stabbing her daughter and two granddaughters, one fatally.

The Colton Police Department had been looking for Nicole Darrington-Clark since the Monday morning attack that left an 18-month-old granddaughter dead and critically injured her daughter and a 5-year-old granddaughter.

"Homicide suspect Darrington-Clark taken into custody this morning in San Bernardino. No longer looking for her or the vehicle," the Colton Police Department posted on Twitter early Tuesday.

Darrington-Clark was arrested in the area of Ninth Street and Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino, according authorities. A San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputy was patrolling the area when a vehicle matching the black Hyundai Sonata Darrington-Clark was said to be driving was spotted behind a business.

The deputy called for back-up and then contacted the occupant of the vehicle, which was Darrington-Clark, authorities said. She was booked into the San Bernardino County Jail on suspicion of murder and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.

Darrington-Clark, described as a black woman, about 5-foot-9 and 200 pounds, reportedly fled the apartment she shared with the victims and was seen in Victorville around noon Monday, according to scanner traffic.

At 5:15 p.m. Monday, scanner traffic reported that a woman matching Clark’s description was seen at the Sherwood Villa Apartments at 14900 Arlette Drive “pouring gasoline on the building and lighting it on fire.”

Salvador Ramirez, 62, who lives in the complex, told the Daily Press he witnessed a woman holding a red gasoline canister “setting an apartment door on fire” and pouring gasoline over the side of the building.

He described the woman he saw as a black woman, and identified her as Clark when shown a photograph.

Several other witnesses on scene said they also saw a woman that appeared to be Clark holding a gas canister or pouring gas over the building. The woman then fled the scene in a black, four-door vehicle, its license plate number matching Clark’s Hyundai Sonata, according to scanner traffic and witnesses on scene.

The blaze was extinguished within minutes, according to San Bernardino County Fire Department spokesman Eric Sherwin. No injuries were reported.

In an earlier case, Darrington-Clark pleaded guilty to stabbing her 14-year-old son and throwing her 10-year-old daughter out of a moving minivan in 2005. Neither child was seriously injured.

But a judge found Darrington-Clark not guilty by reason of insanity and sent her to a mental hospital.

Attorney Robert Sheahen, who represented her at that time, said she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and that Los Angeles County prosecutors had agreed with the judge's decision.

"This is one of the greatest sadnesses I've ever encountered in my 40-year career," he said Tuesday.

Sheahen said he had not heard from her since.

It wasn't immediately clear when or why she was released from the hospital and whether the daughter in the 2005 attack is the same one critically injured Monday. Police did not immediately reply to a message seeking answers to those questions.

A spokesman at the California Department of State Hospitals said officials can't comment on individual cases.

A longtime friend of Darrington-Clark told The Press-Enterprise she was released a few years ago.

"I Facetimed with her a few days ago, and I was worried about her," the friend, Cindy O'Neal, said. "I never thought she would do anything like this."

Investigators do not know the motive for the attack, police Cpl. Ray Mendez said Monday.

Neighbor Patty Williams told The Press-Enterprise that the wounded woman had been "stabbed everywhere."

Another neighbor, Tim Hill, said she ran into his apartment seeking help after the attack. He said he ran upstairs to her apartment and saw the stabbed baby and found her sister in the closet, shaking.

Police decided they couldn't wait for paramedics and took the girl to the hospital, Hill said.

"I'm sad," Williams said. "I feel like my soul left my body because this is disgusting."

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is encouraged to contact the Colton Police Department at 909-370-5000.